USA Healthcare

I would prefer free healthcare but I have employer paid benefits

I don't mind not having free healthcare, I just wish it was a little more reasonable. A regular Dr visit isn't so bad. I think mine is around $120. Insurance pays some or all depending on the type of visit and if I've met my deductible. But when you start getting into specialty doctors, uncommon medications, regular tests and lab work, chronic conditions, surgery. It's just a lot. And then the insurance can come back and say hey we won't cover xyz because it's not medically necessarily, even though the dr is ordering it because they think it's medically necessary 🥴. It's bonkers the power that insurance companies have in this country.

I'm not happy without it, but I've never had free healthcare to compare it to. I think the plans I've had have been expensive and the deductibles have been high so if not free it should definitely be more affordable.

I pay $500 a month for insurance and then still pay around $600 a month for all the medical supplies my family needs. Idk who would be happy about that but they need to get checked.

Because I have never experienced free healthcare—It’s hard to give a full response. But yah, free sounds great—though nothing is really free, is it. Additionally I’m sure free healthcare comes with downside too, because no one system is perfect. I will say, Once I hit my deductible shit is basically free for us. And because my kids are in speech therapy we hit our deductible fair early and we go from $80 a visit (per child) to $6 per visit. It’s crazy! But would I love if therapy was free, I would! But I would question the quality also. For example public schools (at least in my state) offer free therapy for children that qualify. And (In my opinion as a parent) it sucks balls. Hence why my family has chosen to pay for private therapy. Sure it’s expensive but it’s 1:1 and the therapist isn’t handling an overflow of caseloads. This is one of many many examples.

@S. annalese hey from the UK here. I pay £120 a month in national insurance (your payment is based on what you earn, if you earn more you pay more, if you earn less you pay less). Covers all but perscriptions (which it does cover in Wales and Scotland but not in England.) Perscriptions are £10 per perscription no matter what the perscription is. But you pay a monthly subscription which is basically £10 which covers all perscription that's month. There are certain things that mean perscriptions are free aka under 18. Waiting times can be bad but it depends on your area. I've never had to wait more then a month for a hospital appointment. Certain departments like women's health have horrific waiting times. The backlog from covid is bad. It's not perfect but I had 9 ultrasounds, 5 consultant appointments, blood work, induction, gas and air, an emergency c section, 3 nights in hospital plus morfine and dyahydracodine and j left hospital with nothing to pay. The NHS might have it's flaws but I'll take it

I’ve heard that in other countries with free healthcare, there can be long waits to see doctors or they don’t get to choose their doctor. While I have to pay for healthcare in America, I can get seen almost immediately, communicate with my doctor on a daily basis, and choose exactly who I want to meet with. I don’t really know what it’s like to have free healthcare but I’m sure the “supply & demand” would be affected making it ultimately less accessible for proper care. Also, does free healthcare = public healthcare that must follow government regulations? Like I was able to choose a doctor that suits my beliefs and vaccination preferences during the pandemic, would all vaccines be required by all healthcare workers with free healthcare?

other places seem to have a lot of issues with seeing a doctor and such. i like to have a choice in who i’m seeing and be able to see them in a timely manner. not a fan of how expensive it is but it’s all i’ve ever known. i guess my opinion is super biased since ive only ever lived here 😭

@Tay this isn’t a comparison post. I purely was interested in how Americans perceive their healthcare system

I’m in America and I’ve never been seen almost immediately and definitely don’t talk to a doctor daily. That being said, I do wait like 10-20 max tho. And my doctor personally only can talk when I have appointments. Maybe it’s different in her state? However no. I wish it was better cause I’ve had nothing but bad experiences with my insurances.

Taxes are high enough 🙅🏼‍♀️

@Marian so have I and it was fantastic!

@Tay from an aussie- there can be long waits with free healthcare but you can pay for health insurance if you wish which just means you can choose your doctor, you get seen quicker etc. (If it's an emergency procedure, there aren't long waits for free healthcare). Also alot of things arent always included in our free health care. Like alot of specialists or elective surgeries. I have both the free and paid for health card which means for birth I might choose the free system so I don't have any birthing costs. But If I need a hip replacement for example, I might go "private" and use my health care card so I don't have a long wait. Everything you said is pretty spot on I'd say though. There are pros and cons to the free healthcare. But I like that we have it as an option and can pay for health care if we want to aswell. (To OP- I didn't vote dw).

While I was in school, I had free healthcare and it was amazing. Working IN healthcare, I’ve had such expensive healthcare costs. I provide care for others but don’t even want to seek care for myself because of the cost and poor quality care that I often receive.

Even with pretty good insurance from my job I wish we had free Healthcare. I pay about $450 a month for medical and dental insurance for my family however I still have copays and bills from visits. I shouldn't have to pay extra if I'm already paying my premiums every month! Even with insurance, I was stuck with a $5000 bill from my L&D. The birth was more expensive because of an emergency C-section that i didnt even want! Its not right. Universal Healthcare would be nice.

We don't use allopathic doctors, so even with insurance, we pay out of pocket. I highly doubt this would change with "free" healthcare.

@Dana Lew right because free healthcare would cover healthcare. Not random people who decided to call themselves “naturopaths”. If you are seeing “allopathic” drs, you aren’t seeing actual doctors. I mean I guess you could be seeing a PhD doctor but they wouldn’t be much help with health issues.

Every MD I've ever seen in the past was 100% an allopathic doctor. ai have cousins that are doctor & they are 100% practicing allopathic medicine because that's exactly what they're educated in. My cousin's husband will tell anyone who will listen how amazing miralax is but when you ask about dietary changes he'll laugh in your face. Doctor who don't practice root cause medicine can get all the degrees they want, but that doesn't change the fact that the majority of them are not truly helping people cure or alleviate chronic illness. We see a functional medicine doctor who is triple board-certified in pediatrics & internal medicine. As the wife of a type 1 diabetic I'm grateful for modern medicine & my husband's doctor. But he's also seen better results in his A1C & neuropathy symptoms since seeing more holistic medical professionals.

It may be different in other countries, but where I'm from, when we talk about "long waits".... you're not going to be stuck in a waiting room with a heart attack. I'm sure it's happened once or twice as an anomaly, but it's not the norm. They triage that shit. Chest pains? You get seen right away. Period. Sniffles? Wait with the rest of them. There are problems with our health care system but I'm kinda tired of "long wait times" being thrown out like it somehow cancels out that all of my prenatal care was 100% free, including the c-section delivery. And if you're pregnant, don't even bother with Emergency. You'll get sent straight to the EPU or L&D if you show up there, they won't even see you in a regular emergency room.

I just wish it was more affordable. We pay an arm and a leg for insurance and still have crazy high medical bills.

No. And it’s embarrassing considering the extreme wealth in this country. But free healthcare is very politicized and we’re in a weirdly regressive period, as you can see through the tone of some of these comments.

@Alyssa I can request a specific doctor at my general practice when I make an appointment. The thing is if you request a certain doctor you have to wait a lot longer then you do if you don't mind who you see. I do an econsult at say 8am I will get a phone call, text or email by 11am if they want to physically see me I will be seen that day if urgent either at the general practice or down the road at the hospital which has a GP in outpatients. They serve 11,000 with 3 doctors at this rate

@Helen this post was about American healthcare

@Charlie I know and I'm just pointing out what you get from a nationalised system as many, many Americans do not know. It's a lot easier to fight for better when you know others around the world have it.

to my fellow americans saying “i prefer ours because i don’t have to wait for a long time” : the reason you get to be seen so fast is because sooooooooooo many americans cannot see doctors because lack of insurance or even not being able to afford to be seen with insurance. so yeah you get to be on the beneficial side of our fucked up healthcare system but if you think about others and how people are dying from lack of healthcare…….